KUALA LUMPUR: The Malaysian Meteorological Department (MetMalaysia) has attributed the destructive heavy rains and high winds which lashed northern states in the peninsula on Friday night to Typhoon Lekima.
Its director-general, Jailan Simon, said the typhoon’s storm line stretched into southern Thailand last night, which brought about the damaging thunderstorm.
The storm, which began at 8pm last night, battered Penang, Kedah (including Langkawi) and Perlis, causing widespread damage and injuring dozens of people.
“The storm… (was caused by the typhoon) in eastern China. The strong wind direction was focused in southern Thailand, causing the storm line to move from the northwest to the southeast.
"The wind speed was recorded at about 100 kilometres per hour," Jailan told Berita Harian.
However, he said MetMalaysia is confident that there will not be a second wave of inclement weather related to Typhoon Lekima.
Meanwhile, residents in the affected states are picking up the pieces after the powerful storm damaged buildings, uprooted hundreds of trees, and caused flash flooding.
MetMalaysia had earlier issued a warning of heavy rain and strong winds in Perlis, Kedah, Penang and Perak until 2am on Saturday.
In China, a red alert has been declared as Typhoon Lekima barrels towards its eastern coast.
The typhoon, which had battered Taiwan with winds of more than 190km/h, is due to make landfall in China on Saturday.
Lekima, which is the ninth typhoon so far this year, strengthened into a super typhoon late on Wednesday.